Poems (Jackson)/October's Bright Blue Weather

by Helen Hunt Jackson

OCTOBER'S BRIGHT BLUE WEATHER.

SUNS and skies and clouds of June,
 And flowers of June together,
Ye cannot rival for one hour
 October's bright blue weather,

When loud the bumble-bee makes haste,
 Belated, thriftless vagrant,
And Golden-Rod is dying fast,
 And lanes with grapes are fragrant;

When Gentians roll their fringes tight
 To save them for the morning,
And chestnuts fall from satin burrs
 Without a sound of warning;

When on the ground red apples lie
 In piles like jewels shining,
And redder still on old stone walls
 Are leaves of woodbine twining;

When all the lovely wayside things
 Their white-winged seeds are sowing,
And in the fields, still green and fair,
 Late aftermaths are growing;

When springs run low, and on the brooks,
 In idle golden freighting,
Bright leaves sink noiseless in the hush
 Of woods, for winter waiting;

When comrades seek sweet country haunts,
 By twos and twos together,
And count like misers hour by hour,
 October's bright blue weather.

O suns and skies and flowers of June,
 Count all your boasts together,
Love loveth best of all the year
 October's bright blue weather.